This invention relates to a charger for batteries which includes a housing having a pair of contact prongs extending therefrom, the prongs being adapted to be inserted into a conventional A.C. wall outlet or the like. The present invention relates, more particularly, to such a charger for batteries in which the batteries to be charged or recharged are supported by the housing.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,429 issued Feb. 22, 1977 to Ferdinand H. Mullersman and entitled, "Charger With Multiple Attachable Cellholder Modules" to provide a battery charging arrangement which includes a housing having a pair of prongs extending therefrom adapted to be inserted into a conventional A.C. wall outlet. This system includes a charge current source constituted by a transformer arrangement within the housing. A plurality of electrical contacts extend from the housing and are adapted to cooperate with corresponding contacts which extend from a removable cellholder module which includes one or more rectifiers to provide a D.C. output to one or more single cell batteries which are supported by the module. The module, in turn, is supported by the housing which has the pair of prongs extending therefrom, both module and housing being supportable by the A.C. receptacle. Individual cellholder modules are provided for supporting different sized cells, for example, AA, C or D cells, depending on which size of cell a user wishes to have charged or recharged. Similar chargers for batteries are disclosed in respective U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,173,733, 4,319,178 and 4,409,536 issued respectively on Nov. 6, 1979, Mar. 9, 1982 and Oct. 11, 1983 to Raymond K. Sugalski et al., Raymond K. Sugalski and John M. Evjen.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,447 issued Dec. 20, 1977 to James E. Edgall et al., and entitled "Cordless Portable Electrically Powered Device" to provide in a cordless electrically powered device a removable a power pack which includes a housing within which batteries and a rectifying arrangement are positioned and from which a pair of contact prongs extend, when the housing is removed from the tool. The contact prongs are adapted to be inserted directly into a A.C. outlet receptacle so as to support the housing within which the battery pack is housed along with the rectifying arrangement so that the batteries in the housing may be recharged. Similar cordless electrical devices having removable power packs are disclosed in respective U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,084,123 and 4,191,917 granted respectively Apr. 11, 1978 and Mar. 4, 1980 to Lynn D. Lineback and Wayne R. Brown.
Of general interest as showing the background prior art are a number of additional U.S. Patents identified as follows:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. Nos. Inventor(s) Issue Date ______________________________________ 3,209,230 Joseph A. Mas September 28, 1965 3,261,973 Herbert Kott July 19, 1966 3,320,508 Franklin C. Bradshaw May 16, 1967 et al. 3,360,708 David Palmer-Person December 26, 1967 3,391,321 Hajime Ota July 2, 1968 3,435,318 Joseph A. Mas March 25, 1969 3,579,075 Linton E. Floyd May 18, 1971 3,629,680 William R. Baynes December 21, 1971 et al. 3,696,283 John W. Ackley III October 3, 1972 4,101,818 William T. Kelly III July 18, 1978 et al. 4,205,121 Yasuo Naitoh May 27, 1980 4,206,274 Henricus G. Peels June 3, 1980 4,303,876 William T. Kelly III December 1, 1981 and 4,403,182 Warner S. Yeh September 6, 1983. ______________________________________